For me, the Species Editor is the first thing I look at in a game.
...Well, obviously; it's generally the first thing you see after the menu screen - but when I decide whether to buy a game or not, this part of the game is what I browse on wiki pages, because it tells me not only what kind of features the game has, but also how well they are integrated, the kind of balance testing that was done, etc.
...And it always really really annoys me how in every 4X space strategy game, the Species Editor simply cannot match up with that of one of the first 4X games I played, "Stars!".
(Links for those who don't know what I'm talking about:)
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Primary_racial_traits
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Lesser_racial_traits
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Category:Race_Design
Anyway, some ideas and things I'm hoping for:
- Let us choose different rates of progress in different technology categories, so we can make a species that's good at most tech but sucks at coming up with weapons - or on the other hand, a warlike species who is good at nothing but making ships bristling with weaponry. If different species all get the basic "Laser" technology, one should go: "Laser surgery! Of Course!", one should go "Laser cannons! Of course!" and one should go "Holograms! Of course!".
- Remove "up/down one step" choices; "+10% weapon damage", for example, is a lame attribute in itself. On the other hand, "+50% laser damage, but all weapons take up 25% more space" is the kind of attribute that can really define your play style. Conversely, sliders that can change a bonus between +100% and -90% for a variable point cost would let you fine-tune your species.
- Let us design different aspects of our species. Classification & Biology, Culture & Specialties, Homeworld & History:
- "Classification & Biology" to tell you what kind of life-form your species is; Whether it's Lithovoric, Photosynthetic, Robotic and/or Gas-worlder - what kind of environments they thrive in, how fast they reproduce, etc. This could have effects later on, if for example random events treat different classifications differently.
- "Culture & Specialization" gives stuff like "Tech Specialist: 200% Bonus when researching tech with tag X", "Cultural Obsession: ship modules with tag Y are 70% cheaper, but there must be at least one on every ship", "Jury-rigging: Ships regenerate in combat, making disabled modules come online again, but repair costs increase by 20%", "Xenophiliac: Better relationships with other species, and better trade, but less defense against spying or cultural conquest", "Opportunistic: Three times the pirate activity in systems your species inhabits, but your economy benefits each time an alien ship is plundered", "Anarchistic: morale penalties, but Guerilla warfare actions have a +10 bonus", "Trapmaster: Invaders on planets and on ships face penalties depending on number of planetary installations and crew life support modules, respectively - but building these costs 5% more", or "Tech Geeks: Every ship system will be automatically updated to the latest version, but the turn that a new tech appears, the economy takes a hit from the replacement costs".
- The "Homeworld & History" tab, gets you starting advantages, with Homeworld giving stuff like large population limits, oil reserves boosting production, rare minerals giving access to special tech trees, ancient artifacts boosting research, more habitable planets in the same star system, etc. History, meanwhile, could get you things like "Multicultural, twice the chance of colonies declaring independence", "Ancient Empire - Small colonies populated by your species are out there for you to discover", "starts game with tech X", or "Ancient First Contact: Relationship with species Z starts as 'good' and communication frequency has been established".
- Put in cool interactions that can surprise the player. EMP pulses would be extra effective against robotic species, damaging their crews - but would do squat against organic ships. Gravity guns would be nearly useless against Heavy-worlders. Nuclear weapons would have no long-term effects against a species immune to radiation, and for one who LOVES radiation, it would terra-form a planet in the right direction. Lithovores might utilize a new battery tech to make a popular snack food, so would value the tech higher than a biological species would. A solar flare-up might trigger a population boom in a photosynthetic species, etc, etc.